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A tree hasn’t grown in the past ten years, not that it was something Metal paid attention to. Not anymore, at least. Everything around him had just felt weary, grimy even.
But he knows now’s not the time to dwell on such things, not today at least.
Today was her birthday… well, their birthday. She would’ve hated to know he didn’t include himself in the mix sometimes. But he would’ve hated having her be forgotten.
The rusty robot stood up from his charging port and put on his cape. What was once a clear black had been ripped and nearly torn throughout the years. He didn’t mind it, though; he thought it looked cool and imposing.
After wiping the dust off with his hand, he walks out the door. Before he leaves the house, he waves off to his sister, “I’m going to visit Amy.” He says. The now long-haired Marinette, without a braid in her hair, waves off to her brother. “Be safe! Tell them I said hi!”
Metal nods and puts her request in his log before walking off. The weather was overcast, and the sun was barely visible. Again, not that it ever was. He was just fortunate that it wasn’t raining.
As he made his way to visit his old friend, he noticed that there was a supreme lack of flowers around him. It seemed as if nature had given up on the world. How horrible, Amy would’ve hated to see the world in such a state.
The robot then sees a young penguin child wearing a gas mask on his face. He looked as though he was playing with a ball, bouncing it around the plains. Metal decided to walk toward the young boy. It’s been some time since he’s seen a living being in person. “Excuse me, child?” His voice box was now slightly garbled, with the audio buzzing in and out at times.
The young boy looked up to look at the robot, and his eyes widened in ecstatic shock. “You're the machine guy!” He remarks, growing excited. “You stopped that tower from falling over four weeks ago! You saved my life, mister!”
Oh, that. That large building was beginning to crumble in the city, as most of them tended to do as of late. He had to stop another from falling just a week ago. The world had become such a dwindling place.
“Indeed, I am.” Metal responded, he placed his robotic hands on his knees, and leaned down. “What are you doing at the moment, child?”
“Oh, I’m just playing by myself. Mama went out to get supplies a few minutes ago. She won’t come back until the sun comes down. I’m just occupying myself.”
Till sundown? It didn’t feel safe to leave a child unattended to Metal.
“Don’t worry, though, mister machine!” He grabs the ball and holds it between his elbow. He then pulled out a sharp knife from his backpack. “I’m not gonna let any strangers get close to me! Mama also taught me how to defend myself.” The child then proceeded to stab the air to show off his fighting skills to Metal. However, to the latter, it just proved how incapable he was at fighting. His position was off, and he was putting too much effort into the thrust. He would fail miserably if an actual trained fighter went against him. “One time, a stranger got too close to me, and I stabbed him in the leg! Cool, huh?”
Mmm, that did sound very impressive to Metal. “Very ‘cool’ indeed.” He nodded his head.
“Heh, heh, yeah!” He put the knife back in his backpack. “I’m Waddles! What’s your name?”
“Metal. It’s nice to meet you.” The robot held out his hand to the young child.
Waddles shakes his hand. “Thank you for saving me back then, mister!”
“It’s no issue.”
“Hey, uh…” Waddles looked unsure of himself, as if he was trying to find the right words. “My mama said that you're a machine thing, right?”
“Yes.” He nods again. “I am a ‘Machine thing’.” Metal made sure to use air quotes.
“Well… she said you guys are like… like you guys are like ageless. Or something like that. Like, you guys don’t have an age. But like, you do and-”
He could visibly see the penguin struggling with his words. Best to put an end to that before it becomes annoying. “You're asking if I’ve been around a long time, correct?” Waddles nodded his head. “I have.”
Waddles gasped. “Really?! How old are you then?”
“Hmm…” Metal went over his data history, from his very first model to this very date. “Today I turned three hundred and thirty-one.”
“Whoa!” Waddles was left agape at the large number. “That's even older than my grandpa!”
“I suppose it would be.” The robot nodded. “You know, young child. Back then, the world didn't look like this. Some flowers blossomed upon a normal Moebian that could see. Filled with many vibrant colors.” Metal felt nostalgic today; he couldn’t help but think back on what the world used to be.
“Whoa! Like those old books!” Waddles hopped around, giddy. “My mama used to read fairy tales of what the old world was like! She used to say stuff like that, too! Like flowers and sunny skies. Oh! And clear air. And-And less sickness!”
“Yes, all of those things.” Metal nods his head once more. He then thinks back to a place nearby. A place that should still be standing. “You know, child, if my memory serves me right. There is a house not too far from here with seeds for flowers.”
“Really?” Waddles smiled aesthetically. “Oh, man. I rarely see one of those. Can you teach me how to plant one, mister robot?”
“I suppose I have the time for it.” Metal then reaches out his hand to the child. “Come take my hand, I’ll show you the way. Be sure to memorize it in your head.”
The child nods his head. “Okay!” He takes Metal’s hand as the robot leads him to the path.
Belle opened her door to her house, with motobud moving around her side. She wasn’t supposed to be back at her house, at least not so soon. She had just forgotten one of her tools from her shed,
As she walked down the hall, she heard something inside Metal’s room. His door closed. She then walks closer to the door and hears his voice.
“How about this?” Belle’s sound detector perked at the sound. She gently places her ear closer to the door to listen closely.
“Amy Rose. Even though your first appearance in my data was with hatred, you have since become a… joyous thing to ponder about?” Belle hears a huff of steam exit from Metal’s body. “No, no. That doesn't get my point across.”
‘What the heck is he doing?’ The marionette thinks to herself. ‘What is he trying to say to Amy?’
“Amy Rose.” Metal speaks to himself again. “A development in my data shows that I…” A brief silence is heard before Belle hears something hit the mirror glass. “This is inane. It shouldn’t be this hard to just tell her my feelings!”
Belle let out a loud gasp before busting the door open, making her appearance aware. “You have a crush on Amy!?” She yelled.
Metal, whose forehead was pressed on the mirror seconds ago, rips himself off, startled by the marionette’s sudden appearance. “W-What are you doing here?! I thought you were out helping the mechanic leader!”
“I just forgot some things here, but never mind that!” Belle moves closer to her steel brother and shakes his shoulder. “You got a crush on Amy! This is so cool of you!”
“Off me!” Metal shakes his shoulder off Belle’s hands.
“I’m sorry, I’m just so happy for you!” Belle squeals. “When did you realize you had feelings for her?”
Metal rolls his eyes away from his sister’s but when he rolls them back, she still stares at him with glee. “...For some time now.” He said reluctantly.
“That’s not an answer, and we both know it.”
Steam seemed to puff out of his systems as Metal, still not staring at Belle, crossed his arms. “...Longer than I should.”
“‘Longer than you…’ What does that mean?”
“I mean that this… these feelings are completely halting!” Metal says, finally looking at the marionette. “I stopped thinking with logic. I’ve stopped concentrating on importing things, and I start replacing those things with thoughts of… her.”
“Oh, okay…” Belle nodded. “It doesn’t seem like you're so thrilled about the concept of confessing to her. Heck, it kinda seems like you don’t like that you like her.”
“I… I do.” Metal’s eyes averted her’s again. “I-I mean… I don’t reject the idea of ‘getting together’ with her. I enjoy it. I just find it annoying. I have been finding it annoying for the past year!”
Belle snirks. “A year?”
“I meant…” Metal tries to find a reasonable explanation, but then rolls his eyes. “Yes. And I can’t stand a single second of it anymore.”
“I’m confused. I thought you wanted to embrace your more emotional side more, kinda seems like you're denying yourself that.”
“I’m not! And this isn’t me rejecting it. At least I don’t believe it is. It’s just…” Another puff of steam comes out of his body. “She’s been… corrupting my mind like a virus since then. If nothing else, even if she rejects it would be enough reason for it to stop, right?”
Metal seemed to be earnestly asking, and Belle was unsure what to say. Despite her excitement earlier, she had no idea about anything about the subject of romance, nor was she really interested for herself. She was just excited that her brother was. She rubs her wooden arm awkwardly. “I don’t really know.” She said.
Metal’s shoulders slump as he then moves toward the wall and sits down. Seemingly adrift. Motobud moves closer to his right side and places herself under his right arm. Metal reluctantly pets the badnik.
Belle then walks over and sits down with him to his left. “If I could ask, or if you even know. Why Amy?”
Metal huddled his legs closer. “She’s so… emotion-driven. It seems as though everything she does is based on how she feels. I used to think she was the weakest of her friends because of that, because emotions. But…” He lays his head on Motobud’s shell. “Now that I can really know her, without trying to kill her. I realized she’s like that because she feels everything so strongly. She’ll care for something no moebian in the right mind would think about. She’ll defend something or someone even when she has no reason except for the reason of her trust in them. And she feels… She knows that she can change the world with this mindset and isn’t afraid to change it… Whenever she made up her mind on something, she did it. Regardless if it’s wrong or right or clever or stupid…
Metal looks up at the ceiling. “I want to be just like her. Not completely, I mean… I want her mindset, I want her drive, I want her calling, I want her strength, I want… her.” That almost felt wrong to say. Not in the way that he said it, but he felt like there were stronger ways to describe her feelings. More comprehensible, more sensible. Yet his mind couldn’t think of more. It was all simply put when it came to her. And something inside him liked that. “Also, I would be amiss to not mention the fact that she is… amazingly pretty.”
He looked back at Belle, who was holding back tears, but with an overjoyed smile on her face. “Are… Are you alrigh-!” Before Metal could even finish the sentence, Belle immediately hugged him.
“I’m so happy for you!” She gushed. “I’m so happy you feel this way!”
“Please, refrain yourself.” Metal said, yet not rejecting. “Of course, I’m capable of feeling this way! It was only a matter of time!”
“Still! I’m so happy!”
Relenting, Metal hugs her back. Accepting this was just another consequence of trying to be open with others.
Before long, he stands up. “Do you know Amy’s location at the moment?”
“Oh, uh… I believe she’s at her house.”
“Perfect.” Metal walks over to his closet and then pulls out a bouquet, one filled with roses.
Belle seems confused at first before quickly gasping. “Are you going to go confess right now?!”
“Yes.” He nods his head. “I feel… more confident now. Much more than I did before. I have to do this now or it will never happen.”
“Oh, sawdust!” Belle stands up, giddy, moves over to Metal, and hugs him again while jumping up and down. “I’m so darn excited for you!”
“Please cease this! Before I lose my nerve!” He says, the marionette quickly stops, backing away awkwardly. “But… thank you for being so supportive.”
“Heh! No problem!” She then pats him on the back toward the door. “Now go get her!”
“What? I’m not trying to “get” her, I’m just confessing my… what?”
“Sorry. I’ve just heard people say that a lot. Just… good luck!” She gives him a thumbs up, with him giving her one in return.
With that, he boosts out of the door toward Amy’s location. Belle watches him go as the smoke slowly dissipates before remembering something. “Oh, crap! I promised Mend I would be back soon!” She then rushes to the shed to get the thing that she actually came for, with Motobud behind.
Amy’s house has seen better days, or at least a better day before the world around it started to decay. Like the ones around it, her house had vines growing on every side of her house and the tallest of grass growing on its side. Others might call this beautiful in a way, and Metal knows for a fact that Amy would be one of those people. But to him, it just seemed like a waste of construction. He learned to love plant life around many others, but they should be growing on the dirt like normal, not ruining what was hers.
But again, he knows she would think differently.
As well as the child, Waddles. Who once looked at the house before him. Gasps with the type of wonder he associates with naive children. But he can give him more of a pass; he hadn’t seen life like this before. He doesn’t know that this is a fallow heap now.
“What is this place, Mr. Robot?” Waddles asked.
“This is the house of an old friend of mine.” Metal responded, left hand still holding the child’s. He then raises his right to open the front door before remembering something. His head turns to the child. “If you could, I would ask you not to touch anything unless advised, understood.”
The child nods his head furiously. “Yes, sir, Mr. Robot! I won’t touch a single thing!”
“Alright then, tuck in your mask.”
“Why? Is it poisonous inside?”
“No, there’s just a massive amount of dust inside.” With that, Metal opens the door, and sure enough, dust flies outside, and Metal quickly scoots himself and the child inside as he shuts the doors.
“Whoa!” Waddles gasped. “What is all this stuff?!” He then lets go of Metal’s hand and moves over to the dust-filled couch and television. Ah, yes. Metal had forgotten that children often didn’t listen to their elders.
“Please don’t touch anything.” He said, more sternly than before.
“I’m not!” He walks closer to the television. “Whoa! I can kinda see myself in there!”
“That is a television.”
“What is that?”
Metal rolled his eyes. “I’m not your mother figure, child. You can ask her when I bring you back to her.” He then holds his hand out, “Now will you please come back to my side?”
Waddles, feeling guilty, walks over to Metal’s side, careful not to step on anything, “...I’m sorry, Mr. Robot.” He says, holding Metal’s hand again.
“...It’s alright. You are a child. You should still have your wonder.” Metal then walks forward into the house.
Metal then walks into Amy’s room. The bed was fully made, and, except for the dust, nothing was on the ground. He then let go of the child's hand for, “Please stand still.”
“Okay.”
As Waddles attempts to stand perfectly still and look around the room, as well as seeing a dusty photo frame on the desk. Metal moves over to the closet and opens it. Dust particles fell out quickly. His hand attempts to go for the bag of seeds on the bottom, but instead reaches for her dress. Hanged up on a hanger.
He does not attempt to remove, but instead brings his face closer to it, almost hugging it. His scanners tell him every detail of the dress. ‘Filled with particulate matter, presumably untouched for a whole year, a small percentage of perfume is spotted remaining. Pink fur stuck to the fabric.’ The same details from last year, and the year before that, and before that. Exception of the dust, exactly how it was left.
He’s most ashamed of this part of the yearly procedure, which is mainly why he does it alone. He knows she’s gone; he knows more than anyone now. And yet he can’t help himself from doing this. Perhaps that’s why he left the seeds inside the closet. So he could have an excuse to look inside.
With a quick puff, a steam let out of his systems, he opens the bag filled with seeds, takes slightly more than last year, only for Waddle’s sake, and puts them in his core. With slow reluctance, he closes the closet door.
“W-What was that for?” The child asked.
“Please don’t mind me.” He holds out his hand. “We got what we came for. We can be on our way now.”
“Who was your friend?”
Metal turned his head to the child in surprise, “What?”
“Who was your friend?” Waddles looked up at the machine nervously. “It seemed like whoever they were, they must’ve meant a lot to you.”
Metal’s LEDs looked away from the child as a puff of steam left his body. “... Extremely.” He said. “More than you would assume. She… If she were alive now. She would be disappointed with what the world has become. As am I, but it feels like it’s more for her and not for myself.” He then shakes his head. “Regardless, we got what we came here for. Let’s be on our way now.
“A-Alright,” says Waddles, taking his hand as they soon walk their way out of the house.
Metal shuts the front door behind them. Gently though, he doesn’t want to make more damage to the house than it already has. He wants it to look the same when he comes back next year.
Metal’s jet engine makes its way toward Amy’s house. Almost a little too fast, that's supposed to. A little too fast, and he would’ve accidentally broken the door down.
He stops the engine and quickly knocks on the door, the appropriate three times, of course. “One second!” Said Amy from inside.
Metal stood straight and held up the bouquet, ready to be showcased to her, standing and waiting for her arrival. He was calm, collected, and prepared for whatever response she said. Until it dawned on him, he still didn’t know what to say to her.
How?! Why!? Why did he leave the house if he wasn’t even prepared for this part yet? That was literally the one thing he was practicing to do! Why did he get this sudden surge of unearned confidence?
Before he could think of an escape plan or even a last-minute confession speech, the door opened, and now Amy was in front of him.
Before he could get a word out, she gasped. “Oh my gosh!” She squeals. “Is that for me?”
He looks down and sees the bouquet, which he had quickly forgotten that he had even brought for six seconds. “Yes!” He quickly says. “For you, obviously.” He shoves it toward her.
“Thanks, Metal! You shouldn’t have! What brought this on?” She asked, before raising an eyebrow and smirking, “Are you trying to make me take you to another Hatsuni Mika concert? She just got done touring like two weeks ago, Mets, you're a little too late for that.”
“No! No, not at all.” Metal answered with haste. “I wouldn’t… bribe you like this.” His eyes averted from hers, trying not to make contact. “May I come inside? This is private.”
“Uh, sure.” Amy moves out of the way so the machine can enter and closes the door behind him. “What’s up?”
“Right! Yes.” He exclaims, now feeling immensely unprepared. It still felt so soon to say it now. And not right! He doesn’t have the right words. The right tone, the right anything! But… the words he said earlier rang out to him. “If he didn’t do it now, he never will.” He has learned to trust his emotions; he wants them to be just as compatible with his logical side. Why stop now?
“Amy Rose… Ever since I met you. I knew that you were the most emotionally driven person among your peers. And I learned that this was your greatest weakness.”
“Uh, okay?” Amy crossed her arms. “Is this a lecture on how I act or something? Because if so, I don’t really have the time to really care-”
“Please listen to me.” Metal interrupted, with seriousness in his voice.
Amy felt like this was more than just him telling her off. She nodded her head. “Okay, go on then.”
“As I said, I was aware that this was your greatest weakness. Your ability to trust anyone without giving any valid reason to. Your beliefs that would take the world itself to shake you off. And your determination over something some people might think to be foolish. These were your greatest weaknesses. But now, I can see them as your greatest strength.”
Metal stared deep into her eyes, wanting to make sure everything he said now was with full earnestness. “All of those things I just said about you, they are all things I admire deeply about you, in a way that I want to be similar. I want the thing that drives Amy Rose to drive my very core. Because that’s what makes you so strong in my eyes, Amy Rose. And I know that… objectively you're not, and yet, whenever I ponder on who out of everyone I’ve ever met and known who is the strongest, I don’t hesitate to think that’s you.”
“Metal, wha… What brought this on?” Amy was touched, fully. “Why are you telling me this?”
He then reaches out for her hands and holds them in both of his. “Because you are the one I cherish the most. You are the sole reason I’m even here today, and I don’t mean just literally. You are the most wonderful, most amazing, most beautiful person I’ve met… I love you, Amy Rose. With everything I am and will become. I love you.”
Amy’s eyes widened with shock, and her mouth fell agape. “Metal I…” She tries to speak more, but nothing comes out. Metal notices her mouth trying to open and close almost every second.
…And he notices when it slightly begins to frown.
“Oh… Metal, I…” Amy looks away nervously, “I… I’m really flattered, extremely but…”
Metal’s hands let go of Amy’s. “It’s fine…” He says. “You don’t have to explain yourself. I understand.” He attempts to walk away, but Amy then grabs his shoulders, turning him back towards her.
“No, listen! You're a great person! And I’m so happy for the person you’ve become! And I feel…” Amy's eyes begin to well up with tears. “I feel so happy that you think of me that way! I’m so happy I made that much of a difference to you. I just… I can’t return those feelings for you. But it has nothing to do with who you are! Anyone would be lucky to be with you! I just… I don’t think I can see that person being me.”
Metal stares her down with surprise before she shakes him again. “Do you understand that!?”
“Yes. I understand.”
“Good!” She then lets go of him, slightly out of breath.
Metal, realizing he might’ve been staring too long, dusts himself off, even though there wasn’t a particle of dust on him. “In any rate, thank you for listening to my confession.” He then turns to the door. “If that’s all you have to say, then I shall take my leave.”
“Wait, Metal wait!” Amy quickly tries to move closer to Metal, but he was already at the door. “We don’t have to end the conversation like that!”
The machine holds his hand out to stop her from moving any closer. “Thank you for your kind heart, truly. But I do believe it is appropriate for me to be alone, at least for the correct period of time.”
Amy attempts to say something else, but she knows there is nothing she can say that could stop him from leaving, nothing that was true at least. “O-Okay…” She lets out. “Take all the time you need!”
“I will. Bye for now.”
And with that, Metal quickly jets off into the distance, much quicker than he usually does. Something Amy could tell just by how much distance he made in a short amount of time.
Later that night, Belle opens the front door to her house, with Motobud rushing inside near her. “I’m back, Metal!” She closes the door behind her and doesn’t make it two steps before she nearly bumps into Metal, who was standing in front of her, nearly making her drop her toolbox.
“Oh, there you are.” She says. “So how’d it g-” The sentence hardly leaves her mouth before Metal quickly rushes to cling onto her. “Whoa, hey.”
She feels his hands hold tightly to her back, as a huff of steam is let out of him, and another rhythmically follows, and another, and another. Belle didn’t want to say or assume, but it almost seemed like he was crying. For the first time since she’s known him, she sees him display an amount of emotion this deep.
It didn’t take much for her to realize what had happened.
The marionette goes in to hug her brother back. “It’s okay. It’s all okay.” She said, almost as soothingly as she could.
Metal’s steam came out rougher every puff, as he held his sister more tightly. Neither of them could tell you how long this lasted, but it might as well have been the whole night.
The cemetery, like Amy’s house, had also grown fiercely with plant life. The grass and weeds were nearly five inches tall, and vines were wrapped around the stone. Metal truthfully only cared for one person’s gravestone. And tolerated only a couple of others.
“Mr. Robot, look! Waddles points to his right, and Metal turns that direction, but he doesn’t see anything out of place, though. “Look! Another Robot!”
Oh, right. There was one other person at the cemetery. Waddles, still holding his hand, Metal walks over to the rust-filled machine lying close to a tombstone.
The machine had vines wrapped around its legs, its paint was pitch black, but all of that paint was now mostly scathed off, revealing the rusty steel underneath. Even the yellow on his head, which seemed it resemble a star to the young child, had all but nearly gone away. It felt like all the light inside of it was gone.
It turns on immediately, sensing the other machine's presence, sits up away from the tombstone, and its blue eyes scan Metal up and down before resting back.
“Gemerl.” Metal acknowledge.
“Why… Is a child… with you?” Gemerl’s voice was buggy and almost indecipherable due to the static around it. Clearly, since his voice box had gotten old and was nearly broken, he supposed it didn’t have much use anyway.
“I was in a good mood today.” Metal responds. “And Amy would’ve wanted me to share the flowers.”
“I… see.” With that, Gemerl shuts back down, his head falling to the ground.
“Belle said ‘Hi’.” Metal said, though he was sure that was in vain. Though he was sure that was something she didn’t need to know about.
“Who was that?” Waddles asked.
“Gemerl.” Metal said as he began to walk forward again through the cemetery. “He was another friend of mine. He was lying by the grave of someone he held very dear.”
“Oh… I’ve never seen him before.”
“That’s because he has never left this cemetery. He guards it with his life.”
“Huh…” The child doesn’t say much after that, remaining only in his thoughts.
Soon, they stop in front of a grave, one filled with a surplus of flowers, some in pots, in bouquets, or just grown from the ground; some of those flowers looked dry.
Metal let’s go of the child’s hand once again and walks over to a nearby water pot, one that was thankfully filled enough to water.
He pours the water gently onto the flowers. Once he was done, he placed the water pot down, and instead of going back to the child, he took a knee at the said gravestone.
“Happy birthday, Amy.” He says. “Forgive me, I haven’t had the time to come earlier this month. I would’ve noticed that some of the flowers needed to be watered.”
Waddles was completely unsure what to say. Metal seemingly spoke as if she were still there, right by his side. But if there was one thing the child had learned about graveyards, it was that dead people are buried there. Even though he was invited, he felt as though he was intruding on a private conversation, as if he wasn’t even in earshot.
“Belle said ‘Hi,’ and I brought along this young child.” Metal gestured to Waddles, as if he was showing him off.
The child took a step closer. “H-Hello, Amy. It’s nice to meet you.”
Metal then stands up, “That reminds me. We have to plant your yearly flowers.” He then pulls the seeds out of his core. “Come closer, child.”
The penguin walks closer to Metal as the machine then walks closer to a clean spot near her grave. A perfect place for fresh new flowers. “Watch and remember this.” He says, as he proceeds to scoop up dirt with his claws until there is a decently sized hole. He then places three seeds inside it and places the dirt back. “May you hand me the waterpot?” He asked.
“O-Oh! Got it!” Waddles quickly moved over to said item, picked it up, and handed it to Metal. He takes it and begins to pour the water down into the dirt, the appropriate amount of time, of course.
“What are you doing?” Asked the child. “Why are you wasting the water on dirt?”
“Because, pouring water onto seeds is how you turn them into these.” Metal lightly taps the grown flower beside him. “They need water to grow and remain healthy.”
“That’s how you make flowers? That’s so cool!” Waddles exclaimed. “
“It is. And they are all very pretty.” Metal then holds out a handful of seeds to the child. “Put these in your pack. I want you to learn what you saw today and grow them wherever you think they can grow.”
“Okay, Mr. Robot!” He nodded his head enthusiastically.
Metal then turns over to the gravestone. “See that, Amy? I passed on your legacy. I calculate that I will do so more in the future.”
The child backs away from the machine as the latter then proceeds to look down onto the dirt below. “You’re still underground, in your coffin… dead. I’m not sure why I figured you wouldn’t. I suppose I hoped. Hoped? What have you made me become, Amy Rose?”
Metal pats the tombstone with his claws, like it was a pat on the back. “I wish you were here. There isn’t a second in my life when I don’t. I want to feel your presence around me once again. I want to feel your strong emotions spark something in me. I want to feel you again… Just once more.”
“Mr. Robot…” Waddles rubbed his arm awkwardly. “You said she was someone special to you, right?”
“Very much so.”
There was a small silence between the two. Waddles opens his mouth to say something, unsure of whether or not he should, but he does so regardless. “...Were you?” He asked.
Something in Metal hitched at that comment, as his shoulders jolted up when he heard it. “...What?” He said, offended at the question.
“I mean…” Waddles takes off his backpack and unzips it. “My mama always said that people very close to someone are someone that person considers a lover, I’m pretty sure. And if that was the case between you two, then who’s this?”
Metal turns his head to see that the child was holding a picture frame, one that was clearly from Amy’s house due to the dust still surrounding it. He didn’t even look closely at it; he was already enraged.
He stood up and marched up to the child. “I told you NOT to touch anything in her house!” He yelled, scaring the child.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry… I just saw it lying around and I was curious, so I-!”
“SO NOTHING!” The child flinches at the sudden burst in the machine’s voice. “I told you not to touch a single thing in that house! And you didn’t listen to me! You ruined what was hers!”
Metal stood before the child who had now fallen onto the ground, shaking in fear, crying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, I’m sorry!”
…He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to frighten another person again. Not a child, not an innocent child, not in front of her!
Metal then sits down on the ground and sees that the child has dropped the framed photo. He picks it up and looks at it more closely. It was a picture of a more older Amy smiling, her arm wrapped around the shoulder of a green tenric, Surge, Amy’s true love, who had a more reluctant smile on as she had hated taking photos.
“... You're correct.” Metal says. His voice was now calmer. This caused the child to look up at him again. “And also incorrect. Because… I did love Amy Rose. More than I still should, bluntly. But where you're correct is that she didn’t love me, not in the way I did.” He looked at the cloudy sky above. “I love her more than I ever loved anyone else. But she didn’t feel the same for me; instead, her heart belonged to Surge, the green tenric in the photo.” He pointed her out to the child. “I would be untruthful if this didn’t devastate me. But I don’t want to apologize for it.”
He stands up and walks back to Amy’s Grave. “I still love her. I don’t think I will ever stop loving her. My heart is still hers while I don’t hold her own. And yet I don’t want to stop feeling this way. I would hate it if I were to stop, I… I assumed I would hate it, but I don’t. I feel as though I would lose the piece of her that I hold dear if I no longer did.” His head turned. “Is that wrong? Is it wrong for me to still love her? Even now?”
“Uh…” The child began to mutter something, but he was unsure if it was correct. But now he wasn’t even sure if there even was a correct answer. “I don’t… really know, Mr. Robot. I-I… I'm not really sure, but… I mean… I don’t think it’s wrong… I don’t think you should feel wrong to still feel that way.”
Metal looked down at the ground; he still felt melancholic. He’s always felt that way. He’s not sure why he thought he would feel different. He knows he doesn’t want to. He was still unsure. “You're a child.” He says. “I shouldn’t have expected you to know the answer to that.”
“But I really don’t think it’s wrong, Mr. Robot! I just… Maybe she wouldn’t want you to be miserable.”
“...What do you mean?”
“I mean… Your friend. Maybe she would want you to be happy. And if thinking about her makes you happy. Then… Maybe… don’t stop feeling that way?”
…She does make him happy. She did make him happy. She still does make him happy. And he’s never regretted that. Why should he regret it now?
Metal stands and pats the tombstone, “Once again, happy birthday. To you and to me. My next visit will be much sooner.” He places the photo frame next to the grave. He then moved over to Waddles and took out his hand. “I believe it’s time I sent you home.”
“Okay…” The child takes the machine’s hand as the two begin to walk out of the cemetery.
“I would like to apologize for my outburst earlier.” Metal said, after a minute of silence.
“It’s alright,” Waddles said, now more chipper. “I prob’ly shouldn’t have taken the photo anyway.” He started to skip. Metal tends to forget how children can be more forgiving than adults sometimes. “Why did you leave it there, though?”
“Her wife wasn’t able to get a proper burial. I don’t even believe she was buried. Putting her next to Amy seems like it was only right.”
Waddles was unsure what the machine was talking about. She wasn’t really there; she was dead. But adults usually said stuff like this all the time; his mother would say similar things about his father, sometimes. He always felt weird whenever she did and was unsure how to react; even though it didn’t make sense, it did make her feel better. So that must be the case here with him.
And at least now, he knows how to grow flowers, so maybe his friend would be happy to know that.